Conventional battery management systems include multiple battery management chips and a host processor coupled to the battery management chips. The multiple battery management chips can be coupled to multiple battery modules to monitor the statuses of the battery modules. The host processor can be used to communicate with the battery management chips. The host processor acquires the addresses of the battery management chips before accessing the battery management chips. A conventional battery management chip requires extra pins, e.g. three pins, to indicate its address. However, the extra pins increase the die size and the printed circuit board (PCB) area of the battery management chip; thus, the cost of the battery management chip increases accordingly.
Moreover, in some applications, the host processor sends a broadcast command to instruct all the battery management chips to execute the command at the same time. However, due to communication delay, it is impossible for all the battery management chips to execute the broadcast command simultaneously.